Tree planting
In this fifth article of our series “our trees – our future” we write about the best practice of planting trees. Page 4
All about egg candling
TOF - One of the requirements for successful chicken rearing is strict management of eggs, for both market and breeding. The easiest way of sorting eggs for both purposes is through candling. Candling helps the farmer to select the best eggs for incubation, thus eliminating the infertile or bad eggs and increasing hatchability. Page 6
Farmers, do you still want TOF?
TOF – In November 2010, we carried out research on readership of TOF magazine. We sent out a short questionnaire and repeated the same questions in subsequent editions. Our targets were: 1. To confirm if farmers’ groups receive the magazines we send to them, 2. To determine whether the major distributors are handing out the magazines to farmers, 3. To find out if TOF really reaches our targeted readers who are the smallscale farmers in Kenya. We have made it very clear in every issue of TOF since November 2010 that all farmers’ groups and major distributors who do not respond to the questionnaire by 15th March 2011 will be cancelled from our mailing list. We have to do this because so many farmers’ groups are in our waiting list, and for the time being we have to limit our copies to 21’000. Most farmers’ groups which are getting TOF directly have responded, many of them wrote back to us. Thank you for the positive feedback. Some farmers groups and a good number of big distributors have not answered the questionnaire. We con-
sider this silence as a sign of lack of interest in the magazine. We have therefore cancelled them from our mailing list. We think it makes more sense to deliver TOF to all farmers and institutions who are interested and value it.
Farmers, apply directly Farmers’ groups which have been receiving the magazine through NGOs that have not responded or other institution, are requested to apply for their copies directly from us. We do not want to punish these farmers just because these NGOs or institutions have ignored our appeals for a feedback. If farmers groups who were getting their copies through such individuals or institutions fail to get them,they can send us their group’s name, a copy of registration certificate (if the group is registered), the number of members, names and phone numbers of the committee members, name of the contact person and the correct postal address. We shall repeat this information in our radio programmes on KBC (Thursdays, 8.15 pm) and Radio Milele (Tuesdays, 8.30 pm).
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Maize seed options
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Just when they were planning to start planting, Kenyan farmers are caught up in yet another scandal in the agricultural sector: They cannot get maize seed due to a countrywide shortage. The news is really disheartening taking into account that maize is the staple food of the majority of Kenyans. The shortage has very serious consequences for the country. The only option left for farmers is to either go for any variety available in the shops or to go back to their stores, get maize meant for consumption and plant it. What could have gone wrong? The government and the Kenya Seed company, which supplies more than 80 percent of maize seed in the country, clearly know how much maize seed the country requires in a year; therefore they must have known about the looming shortage and taken contingency measures to ensure farmers do not experience any shortage, come the planting season. The explanation given by the company that the shortage is a carry over of the drought that ravaged the country two years ago simply does not wash. Last year, there were adequate rains throughout the country. The year’s production should have covered any shortfalls experienced two years ago. Being the dominant player in the maize seed market, the company has a social obligation to serve Kenyan farmers as a matter of priority. On this, the company has failed Kenyan farmers. With the opening of the larger East African market, it easy to tell where most of the seed meant for local use may have gone. Local seed is in great demand in the neighbouring countries, which can easily tempt any company to sell their stocks at higher price in those markets or to middlemen who can buy the seed in large quantities and later sell at a higher price in those markets. Still the blame goes to the government. The Kenya Seed Company is still a government parastatal; that means that the government still has some form of control on what goes on in there. Maize seed availability is a sensitive matter that threatens national food security. Once again Kenyan farmers and consumers have been betrayed through poor planning and lack of foresight.
TO
Our trees Our future
Kenya has a huge potential for goat meat production, with a population of about 8 million goats. Goats do well in arid and semi-arid lands where there is little pasture. However, Farmers need to keep high management standard in order to produce high quality meat. Page 3
Make your own fertilizer Growing avocados
K F M BC Rad ile Th io le u
Potential for meat goats
Tu rsd es ay da 8. y 8 15 .30 pm pm
Nr. 72 May 2011